Has Jesus got what it takes to join the X-Men? He has no shortage of superpowers, though a lot of them are one-offs: walking on water, turning water into wine, turning a few fish into a lot of fish. Probably the closest he has to a signature gift is healing the sick; but Wolverine can do that too, and Wolverine has adamantium claws.Still, Jesus has staying power. And Kingstone, a Christian publishing company in Florida, hope that his enduring popularity will guarantee the success of their new venture: a 2000-page, 12-volume graphic novel edition of the entire Bible. The first four volumes, which cover the Old Testament up to Judges, will be out this year. They’ve already published versions of the most comic-friendly stories (Samson, David, Elijah); it will be interesting to see how they cope with Leviticus; or, for different reasons, certain passages of Genesis (Chapter 38, for example). The remaining eight volumes, including the New Testament, won’t be published until next year, but Kingstone’s miniseries The Christ, which ran from 2011 to 2013, gives an idea of what to expect. In the first issue Gabriel appears to Mary as an intergalactic envoy, clothed in blue light, with a ripped torso, long silky hair and a metal belt with a triangular buckle – Conan meets Tharg the Mighty. On the cover of the third issue Jesus chills out by a desert camp fire as Satan, dressed as Skeletor, in cape and cowl, creeps up behind him. Amen.

Comments on “Jesus v. Wolverine”

Have you seen the Proust comic book? Very disappointing — no special superhero outfits, not even for the Baron de Charlus. Then again Stephane Heuet has barely got through vol. 2 (or something) after 15 years of working on this so there’s still hope….